Month: Dec 2015

So it’s Christmas Eve, (in the front room, not the drunk tank… not this year) and we’re gathered to watch a festive treat on BBC 2 The Great History Quiz. “We’re so old” moans Mr H. Nope, not me. I’ve always been like this – a total geek for history, ever since Mrs Green dressed us up in togas for our Romans project when we were 12. And any show about the Tudor dynasty is bound to appeal to kids. I’ve never met a kid who doesn’t like grizzly tales of ancient plagues and beheadings. The continuing success of the wonderful Horrible Historiesshould make that abundantly clear. More on that later.

Barack Obama, sitting President of the USA, the guy with the most famous desk job in the world. He looks pretty fit for a fairly stressed out 54 year old but he seems to be worried that he’s not getting out enough. So he teams up with chipper Boy Scout adventurer Bear Grylls for a walk on the wild side up a glacier in Alaska.

Bear’s eyes light up as soon as he sees the helicopter (Chopper Force 1?) and from the off you can tell this is going to be a total bromance – “You look so fit. How do you keep so fit?” growled Bear, stating into Barack’s deep brown eyes. Barack is happy to be out of the office and out of his suit, but still wearing black and grey. How smart, how dull.

Important note: this blog post was written after watching the show and I’ve left it exactly as written at the time, but please see the comment from Shaun (a participant on the show) below. He’s not happy with how his comments were edited by Channel 4, and I’m very thankful for him contacting me to set the record straight.

I am not well.

It’s a virus, or a weird skin thing, or very possibly both. I need to leave it alone and it’ll get better and I need to hurry to Clinical Photography and get pictures taken to aid diagnosis. I need to continue life as normal and I need to stop using soap, cut myself off from all contact with humans and animals and never even look at another kiwi fruit for the rest of my life.

So The Guardian has got it about right – proclaiming that 2015 was the year of never catch-up tv. Their review team voted for 112 different tv shows as the best of 2015. 112! That’s over 45 hours of tv. And that’s only the good stuff – the telly that people make time for and series link, not just the dross on the high-number Sky channels that you leave on for company, to keep the cat entertained or because your hangover hurts too much to reach over for the remote.

Speaking of over indulging, a proper Christmas break is the perfect time to snuggle up and catch up on the tv you missed. Taking inspiration from the Guardian’s extensive list I will try to find time for: